Social media is, of course, all the rage these days but did you know integrating email and marketing automation into your social media efforts can increase your revenue 6X? Did you know triggered emails that are part of the marketing automation process can yield 75% higher open rates and 115% higher click through rates? And how about the fact incorporating video with email can increase the performance of traditional direct mail by 280%?

Several young creatives at the Creative Circus just won the Cannes Future Lion award. Unfortunately, the team cannot afford to go to Cannes and accept their award in person. The creatives are willing to wear the logos of sponsors all over the Cannes festival. Total amount of funds that need to be raised is $20,000 for all 5 team members to get to attend.

Remember the first time you went to Cannes? Come on, you know you do. And you know you were starry eyed and all gaga prancing up and down Le Croisette. Give these budding young creatives a chance to experience all that. So who's in? Anyone want to sponsor these budding creatives? If so, head over here and hook them up.

A new campaign from Denver-based Cultivator Advertising & Design for e-cigarette company FIN Branding Group touts the brand's smokeless, tobacco-free cigarette. A new commercial entitled "Rewrite the Rules" aims to illustrate that e-cigarettes are acceptable in places were regular cigarettes are not; in bars, bowling alleys, the office and restaurants.

Two versions were created because even though e-cigarettes only emit water vapor, some broadcasters do not allow images of the vapor on air.

After you have watched this prank created by Leo Burnett London for the UK's Department of Transportation THINK campaign and have regained your senses and maybe your heart is back inside your chest, we can safely report no innocent bystanders were harmed in the administration of this stunt.

After all, there's only so much scaring the shit out of people you can do before they begin to sue your ass. Hence, those pranked in this stunt are actors.

Still, even to actors, this stunt drives home the point. It ain't pretty getting into a car accident because you had too much to drink.

In this PTTOW video, ad legend Lee Clow discusses his 30-year relationship with Apple CEO Steve Jobs. As Chairman and Global Director of TBWA\Worldwide, Lee Clow has, of course, been responsible for such iconic campaigns as the Energizer Bunny, the Taco Bell Chihuahua and most Apple work from the 1984 Super Bowl Spot to "Think Different" and the iPod silhouettes.

Here's the problem with this don't text and drive campaign from Belgium-based Happiness Brussels for Parents of Road Victims which employed New York artist Andres Serrano as photographer. The campaign, entitled Don't Text and Die is, of course, designed to call attention to the dangers of texting while driving. And the campaign's title harkens the death texting while driving can cause the driver and those around him.

Now we understand this is one of those artsy fartsy approaches to advertising that attempts to lend some cachet to an otherwise mundan cause campaign but if all you are going to talk about in the campaign's documentary is how the subjects in these photographs look like they are dead while texting, they should probably be texting while they are being photographed.

Yes, we know, we know. It's a metaphor. And we get that Serrano is big on shooting death. But do you think your average, uncultured 17-year-old is going to make any kind of connection? This is the kind of campaign that is designed to appeal not to the actual target audience but to peers and critics.

Timed to coincide with the Supreme Court's pending decision on DOMA and Proposition 8, Expedia is releasing "Find Your Understanding," a video about same-sex marriage created by 180LA, on television for the first time starting today. The online video, which debuted last October has been viewed 2,533,874 times on YouTube and has been featured in major media news outlets.

The film follows a father's journey, both literal and figurative as he confronts his conflicting emotions around his lesbian daughter's same-sex marriage. Through his trip to her wedding, he ultimately finds his understanding.

In this case study from SwitchVideo, a company that develops explainer videos for barnds, the company shares how the creation and use of an explainer video increased online conversions 20% for search marketing company Ibenta.

In the whitepaper, SwitchVideo takes you through the process of how it goes about creating a video including brand messaging, character development and animation.

For its latest entry in its All Drive, No Drama campaign, Cars.com has employed James Van Der Beek, heart throb from Varsity Blues and Dawson's Creek, to add some drama to a commercial that touts the fact buying a car with Cars.com is, well, drama-free.

In the ad, when an exchange between a customer and a car dealer isn't quite dramatic enough, the car dealer brings in Van Der Beek to deliver a dramatic line from Varsity Blues. Sadly, Van Der Beek has never been, shall we say, a very dramatic actor.

Following its recent preferred ad position deal with Starcom MediaVest in April, Twitter has signed a deal with WPP. The deal will enable WPP and it operating units -- GroupM, Kantar, Wunderman and others -- to access Twitter's treasure trove of data and incorporate it into WPP media and analytics platforms.

Of the deal, WPP CEO Martin Sorrell said, "Twitter's relevance continues to grow - not only as a social platform, but also as a window into consumer attitudes and behaviour in real time. We are delighted to announce this very wide-ranging strategic partnership and to ensure that Twitter data is a key ingredient in many of our disciplines. We look forward to leveraging the platform in a variety of ways for our clients around the world."

The deal fuels Twitter move into the Big Data space and its deepening marriage with the marketing and advertising community.